Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Rhubarb desserts: Coconut Creams with Poached Rhubarb Recipe

Since spotting the first crisp and sour local rhubarb spears at the market last about a week ago, I've made no less than three different rhubarb desserts already. All of them - let me tell you - worth sharing with you. So if you don't mind, I start with the first one.

The recipe is from BBC Good Food website, and the only change I've done is reducing the amount of sugar. Most British - and pretty much all American recipes - use more sugar than I'm accustomed to, so by reducing the sugar I've 'Estonified' the recipe :)

To make coconut creams, first soak gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes, until softened.Heat the coconut milk and sugar in a small saucepan until simmering, then remove from the heat. Squeeze softened gelatine leaves slightly, then stir into the coconut milk, until dissolved.Let cool a little, then pour into four small 200 ml dessert ramekins or glasses.When cool, cover with clingfilm and transfer to the fridge for about 4 hours or overnight to set.

To poach rhubarb, place rhubarb, sugar and split vanilla pod into a small saucepan. Spring slowly to a boil (you may want to add a tablespoonful or two of water, but young rhubarb should yield plenty of juice itself, so it's not absolutely necessary) and then simmer, covered, for 7-10 minutes, until rhubarb is softened, but not too mushy.

Leave to cool, then spoon over the coconut creams and serve.

* There's no need to 'peel' young rosy rhubarb stalks, and unpeeling means much 'rosier' desserts.

Greetings. Many thanks. I find seasonal cooking extremely rich and convenient to make. With your advise I keep my otherwise unskilled cooking experiments well reviewed by family and friends. Rhubarb would be one of the products I would have never, ever even tried if I had not travelled to Estonia and tasted the variety of pies and desserts that people can prepare with it in your country. Now I simply love it.This recipe is very creative and must taste very good!

Omg, this must be soooo delicious. I have a big bunch of rgubarbs in the fridge, love them! Luckily my boyfriends dislikes them (can't see how :D), so I can eat them all! And more and more is growing in the backyard of my childhoodhome. How great is that :)

Pille ~ What an unbelievably beautiful dessert! It looks a bit like blood-soaked snow, but the shocking contrast of colours is certainly alluring. Like you, I often find myself lowering the amount of sugar often called for in recipes. Clearly, I do not "Estonify" the recipes ;-) but I think the reduction in sugar allows me to enjoy and appreciate the ingredients in tart desserts. Gorgeous!!

Ah, two of my very favorites -- coconut milk and rhubard. I'd bet you have some wonderful family stories to go with these perfect recipes. Will you drop by, maybe send in a guest blog? to smithfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com? It was be so cook to get the cultural take on food and family from your pov. :-)